The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully delivered 36 OneWeb Gen-1 satellites to low Earth orbit.
The launch was performed by ISRO’s Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3) that lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) on March 25, at 11:30 p.m. EDT (03:30 UTC).
LVM3-M3/OneWeb India-2 is the second mission under a commercial agreement with NewSpace India Limited (the commercial arm of ISRO) to launch 72 satellites into Low-Earth Orbit.
The first set of 36 satellites was launched during LVM3-M2/OneWeb India-1 mission on October 23, 2022.
This mission, also known as “Hello world!”, is the eighteenth mission for OneWeb. It marks the completion of the company’s first low Earth orbit constellation bringing the total number of spacecraft to 618.
The constellation will help connect communities, towns, villages, municipalities, and schools, including the most remote areas across the world.
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OneWeb
OneWeb Network Access Associates Limited is a communications company that aims to build a global communications network powered by a constellation of 648 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites.
The company enables high-speed, low latency connectivity for businesses, and communities worldwide.
The company was founded in 2012 and launched its first satellites in 2019 on a Soyuz rocket.
It filed for bankruptcy in March 2020 and exited in November 2020 with a new ownership group: the Government of the United Kingdom, Eutelsat, SoftBank, and Bharti Global, an Indian multinational company.
To date, OneWeb is the first company offering broadband services in low earth orbit to complete its satellite network.
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ISRO
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is the national space agency of India.
It was founded in 1969 to develop an independent Indian space program and is now involved in science, engineering, and technology to harvest the benefits of outer space for India and mankind.
The company is currently working on the Gaganyaan program to fly Indian astronauts to space by the end of 2024.
To date, ISRO has developed the crew module, the crew escape system, and life support systems.
The first mission will last for a week and will see two or three Indians fly at an altitude of 400 km inside the Gaganyaan spacecraft.
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